


Happiness

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Kid Fic, Kids, M/M, Single Parent Derek, SterekKids, sterekweek2016, teeny tiny ounce of magic!Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-24 14:31:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8375755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Still, he couldn't help wondering why Derek had never tried to call back...He paused, the door swinging open and then...Then Stiles started to realize exactly why Derek hadn't contacted him...Because there, strapped to his chest in one of those little baby carrying pouches, was in fact: A baby





	

**Author's Note:**

> Second day of Sterek Week <3 I'm surprisingly happy with how this one turned out, and I love the headcanoned job of Stiles and Derek finding supernatural orphaned kids to take care of and helping them find homes (and keeping some *cough*)

When he had heard Derek was back in town he hadn't wasted time in getting to the loft

Ofcourse, it was possible that Derek wasn't even AT the loft, he hadn't been there in a year so why would he go back? Maybe he had another, better place somewhere else

But when Stiles pulled up to the loft and saw the Toyota there, he knew that Derek had come back to his old place

He hurried to the elevator, stomach tied together in anxious twists as he waited to get to Derek's floor

He hadn't seen him in a year... he had talked to him at first, for the first several months, but then things had gone to hell and Stiles stopped having the energy to communicate with anyone, especially someone he could only talk to on the phone...

Still, he couldn't help wondering why Derek had never tried to call back...

"Derek!!" he shouted, pounding on the door the second he managed to get out of the elevator

"Derek!! Der-!"

He paused, the door swinging open and then...

Then Stiles started to realize exactly why Derek hadn't contacted him...

Because there, strapped to his chest in one of those little baby carrying pouches, was in fact: A baby

"Stiles," Derek breathed, happiness radiating off of him as if he had just been given a giant slice of cake

And possibly worse was the fact that Derek... Derek looked good, like... disgustingly good

Not "Playgirl model wanna bend you over the couch" kind of good- then again Derek ALWAYS looked that kind of good- but healthy and happy and like life HADN'T tossed him down a garbage disposal and spit him back out

He had stupidly beautifully quaffed Disney Prince hair now and the softest beard Stiles had ever seen and was wearing oversized sweat pants and a t-shirt and he just...

He looked comfortable

And "comfortable" was not a word Stiles was used to assigning Derek Hale

"Is she your's?"

Stiles had barely realized he even said that until the look of surprise flittered across Derek's face

God... what was he doing?

Derek had obviously moved on and created a life for himself and Stiles was standing here with a bag of old feelings somehow hoping that Derek's own feelings would stir up and reciprocate and.... and he was just so STUPID and...

"Biologically, no,"

Stiles snapped his head up, clearly surprised by Derek's admission

"But legally... yeah, kind of,"

"Kind of?" Stiles echoed, eyes wide and mouth open

"You... KIND OF have a kid?"

Derek stepped aside, giving Stiles more room to walk in and tilting his head

"You should come in, we ... we should probably talk,"

And if THAT wasn't the understatement of the century...

Derek shut the door behind them and walked over to a corner of the room covered by curtains, and Stiles could vaguely see a bassinet behind them

And that... that was just terribly surreal

But ofcourse if all of this wasn't bad enough, when Derek took off the baby pouch things just... somehow managed to get even WORSE

Because standing in front of him was Derek Hale with a t-shirt that said: "My Favorite Person Calls Me 'Daddy'" on it

And that...

Stiles' brain sort of short-circuited a little bit... because that just.... he needed to warn Derek

"Umm... Derek?"

Derek glanced up from where he was laying the pouch and tilted his head innocently and God that... was a stupidly good look for him....

"Have you... worn that shirt out of the house yet buddy?"

"No, why?" Derek asked, tilting his head like a confused pug

"Do me a favor and... don't...."

"Why not?" he frowned deeper, and if he tilts his head to the other side Stiles swears he's done with the world

"Just... just take my advice and don't ok?"

"But I like this shirt...."

"And I like sub sandwiches but it doesn't mean I'm going to wear a shirt asking for a sub on it" is what Stiles wanted to say, what he ultimately DID say, however, was more along the lines of:

"You should just use it to sleep in, believe me," because he really didn't want to go into the issue of double euntandras and the fact that if Derek DID wear that shirt out he'd probably be Tumblr famous in less than a week

Derek just stayed looking confused but brushed it off, heading into the kitchen and opening the fridge, wich was stocked with an almost concerning number of baby bottles, jars of baby food, and teeny tiny cups of yogurt

The last time he looked in Derek's fridge all that was in there was a single protein bar and a 12 ounce bottle of orange juice

"You want something?"

"Um... I mean if you have something that's made for people with teeth then sure,"

Derek just smirked, reaching into the back of the fridge and pulling out a can of Coke to toss to Stiles

There is a God

"If you haven't eaten yet I'll make you something,"

"No it's.. it's fine, seriously, I'm good,"

Because if seeing Derek with a full fridge was already hard enough, Stiles didn't need the image of him cooking ok?

Derek looked slightly put out but grabbed a bottle of orange juice for himself and shut the door

Because some things never change

"Sooo... how exactly did you end up with little Gidget here anyway?"

"Sasha," Derek corrected

"Huh?"

"Her name is Sasha,"

Somehow having a name to put to the face made things... realer.... less like the baby was just going to vanish or just fell out of the sky and more like Derek actually had a kid...

It was all kinds of weird

"Sasha huh? How'd you come up with that name?"

"My mom always said if I had been a girl she would have named me Sasha, the only reason she didn't name Cora that is because when she was born it 'just didn't look right' so..."

"Right, no I... I get it,"

He understood, Derek wanted to name her in memory of his mother but couldn't manage to use Talia, if Stiles was in this position he probably would have done the same thing

"My mom would have named me Gabriella," he shrugged back

Derek paused, smirking slightly at him

"Cute name, but definately not your type,"

"Oh really? So what would be my 'type' of girl name then?"

"Samantha?"

"What, like the American Girl doll or the witch?"

"You know the names of the American Girl dolls?"

And there it went, the last shred of dignity Stiles had managed to hold onto all this time, out the window because his childhood neighbor used to obsess over American Girl dolls and it was unavoidable that Stiles learn about them because of it

(He may have gone to tea parties with them when Lily had stilled lived next to him, shut up)

"...Shut up, you're gonna have to buy them in a few years so... joke's on you,"

"Or maybe American Girl won't be her thing and she'll prefer Monster High or Justice League," Derek shrugged back, surprisingly unaffected by this

Stiles swallowed, opening his coke and taking a long drink

"So.... how'd you end up with Sasha?"

"She was an orphan," Derek said quietly, sitting down on the couch and not bothering to glance up as Stiles sat beside him

"Braeden and I came across a slaughtered pack when we were looking for the Desert Wolf, she had massacred all of them..."

"Except little Sasha right?"

Derek swallowed, nodding slowly as his grip tightened on the bottle of orange juice in his hand

"She was hidden under the floorboards of the house, in a crawl space, I don't know if the Desert Wolf really didn't know she was there or.... if she just didn't care..."

Having met Corinne himself Stiles tended to bet on the latter but he didn't want to say it, he didn't want to make this hurt any more than it clearly already did

"I found her, Braeden and I tried to find out if she had any other relatives but... if she does we couldn't find them,"

"So you just... decided to keep her?"

"Yeah.... there was nothing else we could do Stiles, what could we have done? Given her to the police and let her end up in a human home somewhere or worse stuck in the system- also full of humans?"

"There's no supernatural organization you could have contacted?" Stiles frowned, eyebrows pinching together at the thought

Sure Laura and Derek hadn't had anything like that to help them but to be fair they were already teenagers, Laura was a legal adult, they wouldn't have needed it, and Malia may have been raised by humans but that was Talia's personal choice wasn't it?

"There is, but all of the information was my mom's, she never told me the details,"

"I don't guess she would have thought her seventeen-year-old son would need to know huh?"

"No, not at the time... I did eventually find the information I needed but that was just a couple of months ago and I was already so attached..."

"Yeah no, I mean... I don't blame you," Stiles paused, a moment of realization starting to flicker across his face

"Wait.... you said you and Braeden were hunting the Desert Wolf.... how old is she?"

"Just over six months, she was only a week or two old when we found her,"

Stiles frowned, stomach turning into nots as something else started to dawn on him

"That's why you didn't come back..." he said slowly, a chill rushing over his spine

"That's why Braeden came alone to get- .. that's why you never came back, because you had to take care of Sasha..."

Derek nodded slowly in affirmation, looking down with guilt written all over his face

"Yeah... I'm sorry I nev-"

"Hey, DON'T apologize ok? Do NOT apologize, you were doing the best thing keeping your kid safe, not coming back is probably the smartest thing you ever did..."

Derek sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head

"This is a mess..."

"You don't know the half of it..."

Derek looked up, lips pursed

"I wish I did, do you want to tell me?"

He wrinkled his nose, taking a deep breath and shaking his head

"No... no and you don't, just... trust me, you don't want to know," he sighed

Derek frowned deeper, but decided not to push the issue- atleast not right now

"So.... where are you living now? I mean I guess you aren't on the beach sipping Mai-tais like I thought you were,"

"THAT'S where you thought I was?" Derek snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head

"Well... maybe drinking like... martinis instead of Mai-tais but the basic idea-"

Derek just laughed, shaking his head slowly and grinning from ear to ear

"Well I couldn't possibly be a bigger disappointment, I've spent the last six months looking for a house in a good neighborhood and making sure the crib didn't malfunction,"

And the fact that Derek was not, in fact, on a beach somewhere sipping cocktails was strangely disappointing and satisfying at the same time

On the one hand he deserved that kind of life, but on the other... Stiles knew Derek well enough to know that he wouldn't really WANT that kind of life, atleast not for more than a week or two

"So um... how long are you staying?"

"Not very long, maybe a week,"

Admittedly, Stiles hadn't had any real expectations for his answer, but that...

That fell even lower than what he could have ever thought...

"A week?" he breathed

Derek looked down, guilt painted clearly on his face as he chewed his lip

"I... can't raise Sasha in this place Stiles, it isn't safe... it isn't good for anyone but especially not a baby, I HAVE to do what's right for her and what's right is... going to San Fransisco, I found this.. little neighborhood there, a little beachfront place that's so calm and quiet... it's the perfect place to raise a kid, I already started having some of the furniture in my old place shipped there, I just came back here to tie up some loose ends... I was going to stay in New York but there's so much danger there too, different from Beacon Hills but still... dangerous... I found this one and... I couldn't say no,"

"Wow," Stiles said quietly, clearing his throat and trying to steady his thoughts, trying not to let the sadness sink down into his voice

"I mean ... look, Derek, I don't blame you so don't get that guilty, hurt puppy look on your face ok? You need to do what's best for Sasha- not to mention what's best for YOU- and being here... staying in this place, it isn't best for ANYONE,"

Derek's smile was sad, bittersweet, and made Stiles' chest ache

"Thank you Stiles, for understanding,"

And seriously

What in the hell was he supposed to do with that?

~+~

"Stiles, you're sulking,"

Stiles didn't even bother looking up from the book he was pretending to read, there was no point, Lydia had called him out and they both knew he wouldn't get away with trying to lie to her so why bother?

"Does this have anything to do with Derek?"

Stiles jerked slightly, eyes narrowing as he reluctantly closed his book and stared up at her

"He's going to live over three hours away with his DAUGHTER, Lydia, and I am never, ever going to see him again,"

"Mm, I COULD say that you could always visit him, but I have a feeling that won't make you feel any better at all,"

"No... no it wouldn't," he agreed quietly, running his hands over his face and groaning loudly into his palms

"You know Stiles," Lydia said slowly, gracefully sitting down next to him on the park bench and leaning back

"I may be wrong but I don't believe you've made any decisions about what to do when August gets here,"

"Thanks for reminding me of yet another failure in my life," he grumbled sourly, yelping as Lydia gave his head a slight tug until he was laying in her lap

"That isn't what I was referring to, I'm just saying... what's preventing you from going to San Fransisco with him? San Fransisco is FULL of opportunities, good schools, lots of creative outlets, a huge law enforcement branch, and it's full of culture! The art, the food, the tourism..."

"The crime rate, the expenses, the tourism..."

Lydia frowned, flicking him in the head and making him yelp again

"I'm trying to help here,"

"I know I know I just... I don't know what I'm supposed to do Lydia, even if I DID do something utterly crazy like move to San Fransisco it wouldn't do me any good, Derek has a KID now, if there was ever any chance that he felt the same way about me then that chance is dead in the water now, you should see him Lydia, he's a great father, he isn't going to jeopardize that by getting involved with some eighteen-year-old kid,"

Lydia just rolled her eyes, shaking her head in frustration as she stared down at him

"Stiles, feelings don't just go away, you should know that better than anyone, and if there was ever a time when Derek would CONFRONT those feelings it would probably be now,"

"Why now when he has a kid? Now is the last time he-"

"Now when he feels GOOD, when he's HAPPY, he might actually be open to a relationship, besides he needs all the help he can get right now and it might be a good chance to spend some time with him,"

Well, she wasn't wrong he supposed... but that still didn't make him feel like being with Derek would be such a sure thing

"Stiles, tell him, or you're going to regret it for the rest of your life,"

"And if I make an idiot out of myself I'll regret THAT for the rest of my life too!!"

"But atleast then you'll KNOW, you'll never have to ask yourself 'What if?', it may hurt to be rejected, but it's better than having to question how he feels, what was your first thought when you saw him with that baby Stiles? Be honest,"

Stiles was quiet for a moment, swallowing hard and starting to fidget

"That..... that I was too late,"

"This time you had a reprieve Stiles, but next time you aren't going to be so lucky, the next time you open the door and see Derek with a family, don't you think you'll have the same sensation of being too late?"

Stiles thought for a long moment, swallowing tightly as he stared blankly across the park

Lydia was right, he knew she was, but that didn't make him feel any better, he was still going to have to confront Derek one way or another and it just .... made him feel sick, truly, honestly sick...

"So what exactly am I supposed to do Lydia? Walk in and say 'Hey Derek I'm in love with you wanna live together and raise a baby werewolf?'?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head

"You don't have to come right out and say anything right now, just... don't let him go, make sure your hat is in the ring, that's all, make sure you don't drift apart again for one thing,"

Ok that... yeah... yeah she had a good point about that one....

He was quiet for a moment, swallowing roughly and closing his eyes

"Stiles?" she asked quietly

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah... yeah, I just um... have alot to think about,"

Lydia smiled softly, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly

"You'll make the right choice, I know you will,"

Stiles just wished he was half as confident as she was...

~+~

"I know, I know, I'm coming," Derek said hurriedly, gently strapping Sasha into her high chair before making his way to the fridge

He had been in the shower when Sasha woke up from her nap wanting food and now he was running around trying to dry off and feed her at the same time before she started crying again

And ofcourse he had just pulled the little cup of yogurt off of the shelf when he heard someone start nocking on the door

He glanced down at the baby for a moment, her little bottom lip trembling and a pout of annoyance on her face, but the nocking continued

"Just ... hold on one second ok?" he reasoned, setting the cup on the counter and rushing to the door before a little pout turned into alot of screaming

The moment he opened the door a sigh of releif poured out of him, beaming at the person in front of him

"Stiles!" he grinned, stepping back and rubbing the back of his neck

"I'll be with you in a second, I just have to feed Sasha,"

"I can do it, I mean... sit down, you look like you just jumped out of a dead sleep, I can feed her,"

Derek swallowed a bit hesitantly but nodded towards the yogurt on the counter

"I'll get her spoon," he said a moment later

He had already been relieved that it was Stiles at the door- someone who already knew about the baby and wouldn't be .. alarmed... by her pressence- but now that Stiles had offered to help he felt even better

"You look seriously beat man, I mean, no offense but-"

"None taken, I was in the shower," Derek interrupted, grabbing one of the rubber spoons and handing it to Stiles before heading back to the couch and rubbing his eyes tiredly

"I was just getting out when she started crying and I didn't have a chance to dry off properly,"

"Then you shou-"

"No no, I'm... I'm dry enough now, there's not much point," he shrugged back quickly

Stiles just gave somewhat of a nod, not necessarily agreeing with him but deciding not to argue either

"So um... do you mind if I talk to you about something?" he asked after a moment, feeding Sasha the yogurt peacefully and not bothering to look up at Derek as he spoke

"Ofcourse not, really, go ahead,"

Stiles considered that for a moment, probably trying to think of the best way to approach whatever subject he wanted to talk about, before suddenly speaking again

"What's the weather like in San Fransisco?"

If there was at all a more awkward, ridiculous way to start this conversation, Stiles certainly hadn't found it yet

"Um...."

"God I'm sorry, I'm.... crap... I'm not... smart right now," he muttered, running his fingers through his hair in frustration

"You're always smart," Derek said honestly

Stiles' eyebrows pinched, nose wrinkling in slight confusion as he stared across at the other man

Because... he didn't really know how to process that....

"Stiles just... talk slowly, try to concentrate on what you need to say,"

"I want to move with you," he blurted out suddenly, and really, that sorta went away with the idea of talking slowly and concentrating...

Derek blinked, mouth opening a little bit

"You-"

"I want to go with you to San Fransisco, when you leave, I just... everybody is leaving Derek, Scott's going to some college two hours away, Lydia is leaving the STATE, Kira is gone, even Malia is going to college an hour away from here and ... the only ones left are my dad and the highschoolers, you know Liam's gang will be out of here too when they graduate and... and I don't have ... ANYTHING Derek, I don't... I'm not going to college or... have a career in mind, I don't know what I'm doing but I ... I don't think I can stay here, I don't think I can stay here when everyone else is leaving- moving on- and I.. don't think I can stay here after everything that's happened,"

"Stiles," Derek said slowly, moving a bit closer to the other male and gently taking his hand

"You don't owe me an explanation, and for what it's worth, you don't have to have everything together at only eighteen, I know everyone says that you do but you don't, I mean... look at me, 25 and I still don't have any kind of... calling,"

Stiles sighed, looking down and giving a slow nod

"I guess ... I mean... I need to figure out something though..."

"Maybe you can get into art, San Fransisco is a pretty artistic place,"

"Nah, I'm not passionate about art- or good at it, for that matter," Stiles shrugged back, picking up Sasha and bouncing her gently as he patted her back

"My dad said I'd be good in law enforcement but ... I don't think I'd be happy with it, I don't think I could live through that after... everything... I think it'd be too much," he explained quietly

Derek thought for a moment, head tilting as he stared at the other

"Well.. what makes you happy? What gives you a sense of peace? A sense of joy?"

Stiles was quiet, eyes downcast and nose twitching slightly

"This," he said quietly

And it was true, this, just the simple action of being with Derek and taking care of Sasha... that made him happy

"I mean, not that I could turn taking care of babies into a career though, I'd be a terrible nanny, but... I think this is great, what you're doing you know? Saving the supernatural babies, taking care of them..."

"Oh I... I only have Sasha, I mean as great as it would be to find supernatural children and bring them to the attention of the agency that usually does this... as much as I LOVE taking care of Sasha and would feel... great... doing this more than once... there's no way I have the skills needed for that, to find them you know? Taking care of them is one thing but... I'm not exactly a detective," Derek shrugged back

Stiles paused, staring at Derek with wide eyes

Derek slowly stared back up at him, a similar expression on his face

Like... like they had both come to the same epiphany at the same time

"Are you thinking... what I'm thinking...?" he asked slowly

Derek could take care of kids, but he just didn't have the investigative skills

But Stiles....

Stiles had those skills in spades, he was a good detective, if he did say so himself

And that.... that was exactly what he needed, the ability to save people- help people- via his skills, like a detective, but on a much smaller scale, with so much less fighting and death and so much more... actual _helping_...

He'd get to help the supernatural world without being so entrenched in it that every day was a battle like it had been recently, it was... kind of a perfect solution.....

For both of them at that

And by the look on Derek's face, he was thinking the same thing

"Stiles... are you really sure that's something you want to do? It won't be easy and watching the babies until the agency comes for them-"

"I know," Stiles interrupted

"Trust me... I know,"

He did, he really did

He knew how much it would take, how much work and how much PAIN letting go of them would be but.. but he couldn't help but notice the perfection of this solution

"I can do this Derek, I can do this... I mean I won't be alone you know? I'll be with you, and I can empty out my college fund to live on, and my ca-"

"You don't need to do that," Derek said quickly, wincing internally at how quickly and almost harshly he had said that

"I mean... I could use your help with Sasha if... if you didn't mind, it gets lonely... doing this by myself, and I could use someone to get up with her now and then, watch her when I have an emergency or .. what have you," he clarified, rubbing the back of his neck

"I don't mind," Stiles grinned quickly

"Are... are you sure? I mean it isn't always going to be bouncing and feeding you know, there are going to be diapers and late nights and endless, endless crying and teething and-"

"Derek, I know how babies work, seriously, I've been around them before, done the babysitting thing-"

"You know this one would be all the time right? There's no going home at the end of the day,"

"I know Derek, believe me I get it, I wouldn't agree to it if I didn't know what I was getting into,"

Derek smiled shyly at him, giving a slow nod and rubbing the back of his neck as he went to sit on the couch, Stiles followed, carrying Sasha along with him

"We should still probably wait a little wile before we start all of this though, we still have to move in and get settled and start establishing basic databases, start a contact line between ourselves and the agency we'll be calling to take the kids when we find them, figure out what to do with Sasha when we have to go on a trip..."

"Well actually I sorta just figured... we have plenty of babysitters here who would be more than happy to watch her, I mean I know for sure my dad would love to, Beacon Hills isn't THAT far from where we're going, about three hours by train, when we need a babysitter we can bring her by for a day trip," he suggested

Derek nodded slowly, he supposed that made sense... it couldn't happen ALL the time but it was a start

And they probably wouldn't have to leave Sasha with a babysitter all that often

"I can't believe we're really doing this," he mused quietly

"Same here, but... it makes sense doesn't it?" Stiles asked quietly

Derek nodded, because... it sort of did, in a weird way, he couldn't really imagine them doing anything else, oddly enough

"I'll start helping you get things in order tommorrow," he added a second later

"Sure, no problem," Stiles agreed

Derek couldn't help but look over, smiling at seeing Sasha sound asleep against Stiles' chest

"You really have a nack with her you know," he mused, leaning a little bit closer

"I can never get her to go to sleep that easily,"

"Well then I guess it's a good thing you have a built in nanny coming to live with you huh?" Stiles teased back, leaning a little closer to Derek as well

"Yeah.... for more than one reason," the wolf promised, closing his eyes and gently reaching out to cup Stiles' face

Before he knew it they were kissing, carefull and quiet, making all the efforts they could not to wake the baby

He wasn't sure what it was but something compelled them both at the same moment, like magnets finally being drawn together, maybe it was just that, finally, they were in the right place at the right time

"You know," Derek mentioned absently when he finally pulled away, keeping his forehead pressed against Stiles' and smiling

"I think you were right before,"

"About what?"

He smiled a bit more, one hand falling to rest over the spark's

"That this feels right, that this... this is happiness,"

And in five years when he and Stiles were in the same position, on their own couch in San Fransisco, wedding bands scraping together and holding a baby of their own, Sasha asleep upstairs for the night, they would agree that this, was indeed, happiness


End file.
